American claims mistreatment in Myanmar prison

YANGON, Myanmar 
The U.S. Embassy said Friday it has made a formal complaint to Myanmar's military government after a Myanmar-born American claimed he was mistreated in prison.

Kyaw Zaw Lwin was secretly arrested Sept. 3 on arrival at Yangon airport. Dissident groups reported his disappearance but his whereabouts were unknown until he was allowed a U.S. consular visit Sept. 20 at Myanmar's notorious Insein Prison.

The London-based human rights group Amnesty International said Thursday that "trusted sources" reported that he had suffered torture and other ill treatment in custody.

Myanmar authorities on Wednesday accused Kyaw Zaw Lwin of seeking to incite political unrest, according to reports on state radio and television. They claimed he had confessed to plotting with dissident groups outside the country, and accused him of being linked to several activists inside Myanmar who planned to set off bombs.

"The embassy early this week submitted an official complaint to the government, protesting mistreatment of the American citizen," embassy spokesman Drake Weisert said Friday. He declined to disclose details about the alleged mistreatment.

"He is a U.S. citizen and we will continue to give him consular access and provide assistance anyway we can," Weisert said. According to dissident groups, Kyaw Zaw Lwin is a resident of Maryland.

Myanmar's government does not have an official spokesman and there was no immediate official reaction to the embassy's complaint.

Amnesty International said Kyaw Zaw Lwin's torture included beatings and kicking.

"He was deprived of food for seven days and moved between different interrogation centers. He was not allowed to sleep at night and was kept awake during interrogation by the authorities," it said in a statement, adding that he had been denied medical treatment for the injuries inflicted on him.

Another American, 53-year-old John Yettaw, said he was not mistreated during the three months he spent in Insein Prison after being arrested for sneaking into the house of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Yettaw, of Falcon, Missouri, was sentenced to seven years in prison but was released on humanitarian grounds and deported on Aug. 16.

Wednesday's official news report said Kyaw Zaw Lwin entered Myanmar to stir up protests by Buddhist monks, who earlier spearheaded pro-democracy demonstrations in 2007 that were brutally suppressed by the junta.

The report said Kyaw Zaw Lwin is a member of the dissident group the All Burma Students' Democratic Front.

Kyaw Zaw Lwin's mother is serving a five-year jail term for political activities and his sister was sentenced to 65 years in prison for her role in the 2007 pro-democracy protests, activist groups and family members said.